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Cambaluc Chinese Chess Photos. A commercially produced Chinese Chess set with Staunton pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

John Lawson wrote on Wed, Oct 15, 2008 04:19 AM UTC:

I agree with dhr. Muller in my preference for wooden pieces.  Nice ones are not very economical, and custom designs would be quite expensive.
I did a 'back-of-the-envelope' calculation and came up with a price of about 2-4 USD per piece if executed by an experienced production hand turner, cheaper if the design and quantity allowed the use of an automatic duplicator.  I checked this against prices in internet stores for hand-turned lace bobbins, which are similar to chess pieces in size and complexity, and undecorated ones are about 3-4 USD.
There are other less traditional ways of making wooden chesspieces, notably ring-turning and scroll-sawed sillhouettes, which might be cheaper.
For those who might want to butcher manufactured sets, the cheapest chess piece retailer I have found online is www.wholesalechess.com